Day 27, Sunday February 21, 1999... Worked
on web sites all morning. The roads are now very sloppy. The temperatures are
up around 40 and everything is melting. If this keeps up for another day the roads
should be in pretty good shape and I will be able to start riding. My granddaughter
and her mother are coming over for dinner this afternoon so I know there will be no riding
today, and I have to have a site done for Minnesota Power by Monday.

I will call Marlow on Monday and see where we stand with the windshield and speedometer
for the Deco and the alternator for the Sportsman. Hopefully I will have them both
here next week.

5:30 p.m. What can I say? I am incorrigible... Granddaughter and her
Mom came over for dinner. Cooked up a batch of spaghetti and we had a very nice
visit. They left about 5:00. As I walked them to the car I noticed that I had
left the garage door open. And the poor Deco was sitting there screaming at me,
"Let's go, let's go for a ride, com'on... Paleeease...???"

What could I do. The moment they pulled out of the driveway the bike was outside
warming up, while I ran into the house to put on a coat. The temperature was about
20 f. (-6 C.) with no wind. The driveway was covered with snow but the sun during
the day had dried out the streets. It felt so good to be on the bike that the cold
temperature did nothing to make it any less fun. Went for about a twenty minute ride
around the local streets and highway. Stayed off the freeway as the bike isn't
broken in yet and with the speed limit being 70, it is a bit dangerous to be putting alone
at less than 50. Everyone on the roads, in their yards, or even snowmobiling next to
the road waved. By the time I returned home I was a bit cold but happy.
I did get a ride in today. To you that live in warm climates, riding this time of
year might not seem like much, but here in Northern Minnesota the only people on the road
this time of year, on motorcycles, are certifiable crazy people. And there are some
people that might suggest that I fit in that group. But I a riding and they are
not...

Day 28, Monday February 22, 1999... -2 f. this
morning so I guess I will leave the bike at home again today...

Had a Board of Directors meeting for Lake Superior
Writers tonight that lasted until after 10:00 p.m. so it was another very long day
today. Didn't get to bed until 12:30 a.m and the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. because an
alarm went off at the office. Being a keyholder they called me... Didn't have to go
down there but wasn't able to get back to sleep until after 4:00 a.m.

Day 29, Tuesday February 23, 1999... Alarm went off
at 5:00 a.m. and I know one guy that had a hard time rolling himself out of the bed.
Shaving was a real adventure. My eyes didn't seem to want to focus, let alone
even open. This whole story could have ended right there, but I made it through.
I am dragging today but there is one thing that has me excited. I am heading
out of work a bit early so I can run to Carlton MN, to Silverbrook Embroidery, to pick up
a new batch of T-shirts for NARMA. We even had him do up a cap, a few long sleeve
shirts and two sweatshirts just to see how they look. Hopefully I will have them up
on the products page in the next day or so. It looks like we will be marketing more
after-market parts from Russia also. Our contact in Russia is going to be supplying
exhaust cooling fins and air cleaner systems. We will be marketing them in North
America through NARMA. Prices are not yet firm although it looks like the cooling
fins will be at $29.95 a set delivered and the air cleaner systems will be at $59.95
delivered. But it somewhat depends on the shipping costs from Russia. We never
had any intention of getting into the marketing of products but the NARMA site is such a
good place to display them that maybe we can bring a few dollars into the coffers by doing
it, and we are now finding it kind of exciting.

Oh, and my license plate arrived for the Deco yesterday. Since the temporary
permit expired a week ago I will now be much more comfortable taking it on public roads.

Day 30, 31, 32, Weds, Thurs, Fri Feb 24, 25, 26... It has
been difficult getting on-line the last few days. Seems like I have been in a
continuous series of meetings. Not much going on with the Deco, although, the
windshield arrived yesterday. I unpacked it this morning before heading off to the
office. It is exactly the same as the one I have on the Sportsman. When I
mount it will not use all the standard mounting brackets that come with it. They are
a bit too short and cause the windshield to ride in front of the headlight just a bit.
At night the windshield acts as a fibre optic pickup and it actually glows around
the edges. Some people might think this is kind of cool, but I find it very
distracting. The local Fleet & Farm store has a whole section devoted to door
hinges and brackets of all kinds, and they have a wonderful, very sturdy bracket that is
an perfect replacement. I will have to widen one whole with a drill to accommodate
the left turn signal but that is no problem.

Talked to Marlow today (Friday) and he is expecting the 14 amp alternator for the
Sportsman to arrive today. He says I will have it back some time next week.
The speedometer for the Deco should arrive at my house today. I am sure it can't be
too difficult to put on. The odometer and tripmeter still work perfectly and just
the needle is bouncing. I only wish the roads would clear up. As soon as they
start to dry out we get a bit more snow, and the salting trucks are out right away.
I am just not prepared to ride the Deco in that kind of soup. Should only be a
couple more weeks of snow on the ground, then we still get snow storms but they have a
tendency to melt within a few days. We sometimes have snow on the ground into May
but the way things are shaping up all the snow could be gone by the end of March.

Hopefully I will get to ride this weekend.

Day 33, Saturday February 27... Today turned out to
be another work day. Worked for a publishing company, Benline Press, in the morning, a motivational
speaker, Dave Allison, in the afternoon, then
went home and the phone started ringing with others needing computer advise. Didn't
get to relax, play with the bike, or do much else than work. I'm hoping I get to
work on the bike tomorrow, and maybe relax a bit.